


Strange Body, Strange Mind

by Catheria



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Post-Canon, Scars, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catheria/pseuds/Catheria
Summary: Catra can see Adora's face clearly in the bright moonlight, her face, hair, and eyes alike pale. Her bangs brush her eyebrows and the rest of her hair encircles her head like a halo."What's up?" Adora repeats, this time a little more concern in her voice."Nightmares,"*****Or Catra and Adora talk about bad dreams and worse realitiesSeason Five Spoilers!
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 362





	Strange Body, Strange Mind

**Author's Note:**

> A short one shot because season five fed me

Catra's eyes flutter open to vibrant purple. The wind roars in her ears, whipping her hair in her face. Her hair is longer than she remembers. Her thoughts are distorted. This isn't her Etheria.

She manages to force herself to look at her arms. One's pitch black, and the other normal besides the violet illuminating the thin fuzz on her skin.

_Not again._ Please, _not again,_ Catra manages through the static of her brain.

Her blackened skin feels like every molecule is ablaze. Pain consumes Catra, and a strangled, distorted cry escapes her lips.

She can't think. She can't breathe. Her body shakes like she's a child again, fresh from one of Shadow Weaver's tantrums.

Catra falls to her knees, the earth crumbling beneath her body. The vibrant purple stains her vision, and she blinks away static and tears alike.

She can't hear her own cries over the wind that tears away the ground.

Finally there's nothing beneath her. Catra falls into the void, eyes scrunched shut so hard it's nearly matches the pain of her own body disintegrating.

Her tears stream out of her eyes, floating above her as her body falls deeper and deeper into void.

Finally the falling stops. The burning stops. Catra forces her eyelids open to see her own body, but in unfamiliar clothes.

Take that back, _mostly_ unfamiliar clothes. She spots a pin from Adora's jacket on her maroon button-up shirt.

Catra glances upwards only to spot Adora. Except this Adora is slightly different from the one she knows so well. This Adora is older, her hair longer and down and accompanied by a golden tiara not unlike She-Ra's. She dons a flowing white gown with gold accents. And she reaches out desperately towards Catra.

They both are in an empty void, pure black surrounding the both of them. But Adora sprints towards Catra across the emptiness like there's tangible ground beneath her feet.

This Adora's eyes are wide and fearful and brimming with tears. And something inside Catra breaks at the sight of them.

"Catra!" she wails as her next step breaks the invisible barrier beneath her feet, "Catra, get out of here!"

"What- No!" Catra screams back, diving towards Adora without hesitation. But her attempt is fruitless, as an invisible barrier prevents her from reaching Adora. Catra is knocked windless and she can feel her side bruising, but that means nothing. Her desperation overcomes her pain.

"Adora!" she shrieks, clawing at whatever prevents her from reaching Adora.

Adora does nothing but shriek in response, no more than a few feet from her grasp, as twin ribbons of green surround her like a lock.

Tears fall upwards of her eyes, and all that Adora says is a small, broken, "It's too late."

"No!" Catra cries in answer, "No, no, _no_!"

Catra realizes that if her claws won't do the trick, maybe she can break the barrier with brute force.

In a haze of tears and sobs she punches at whatever won't let her cradle Adora in her arms.

Catra punches until knuckles bleed and cries until her voice is hoarse.

* * *

Catra wakes up, and the first thing she notices is the absence of Adora's muscular, sturdy frame around her. The second thing she notices is how the corners of her eyes are damp with tears. The final thing Catra notices is how it can't be past two in the morning.

She rolls onto her back and looks at the dark ceiling, quickly wiping her eyes because if there's one thing she knows it's Adora sleeps just as well as Catra does.

Catra turns to her left, and she sees just what she expected: Adora, tossing and turning, her blanket long-gone from being kicked off.

She looks at Adora's bare back, and sees the _layers_ of scars that her life has given her. First there's the scars from their childhood: little clawmarks from childhood skirmishes, training mishaps, and that one from when she fell off the Fright Zone's roof when she was nine.

Then there's the scars from her days as She-Ra: burns from Horde bots, and a lot of Catra's personal regrets. She lets her hand hover above the twin slashes running down the length of Adora's back. Tears well back into her eyes, but she tries to be quiet, for Adora's sake. On top of the aforementioned clawmarks, now there's a single, deep row of scars running across them thanks to-

Catra cuts that thought short. She doesn't want to give him the power of being so much as a thought in her head.

Adora jolts in her sleep and Catra quickly withdraws her hand. Even though they've been sleeping in the same bed for the past week something still feels _forbidden_ about it.

Without trying to, Catra finishes inventory of all the pale lines catching the moonlight on Adora's back. There's the First One's writing still seared into her skin from the first time the Heart was activated, the thick slices from the last time. A week ago.

Catra's voice fails her, and a repressed sob escapes her.

Adora doesn't wake up, but Melog hops onto their bed. And _that_ wakes Adora up.

Melog lies on top of Catra, firmly pinning Catra to the bed. They purr so loudly that the bed vibrates, and Catra manages a small laugh through her tears.

"Hey, what's up?" Adora asks, but her voice is just as shaky as Catra's.

Their hands find each other in the darkness, and their fingers lace together as if they've been doing this their entire lives. Which, truth be told, they _kinda_ have.

Catra can see Adora's face clearly in the bright moonlight, her face, hair, and eyes alike pale. Her bangs brush her eyebrows and the rest of her hair encircles her head like a halo.

"What's up?" Adora repeats, this time a little more concern in her voice.

"Nightmares," she sighs, and Adora nods, squeezing Catra's hand a bit in reassurance.

"Me too," Adora answers, looking a little crestfallen.

Catra pets Melog before nudging them off of her so she can scoot over to Adora, who promptly wraps her arms around her.

Catra sometimes feels like she's dreaming. She's _really_ with the girl she's loved for as long as she can remember. And they fit together in a way Catra could've never imagined.

"How long do you think they'll last?" Adora asks after a moment of silence. Catra can feel her jaw move as she talks.

"I don't know if they'll ever go away," Catra answers, a little too quickly. She wraps her arms around Adora's and huddles a little more into her chest.

"At least we have each other," Adora offers, like it's the most important fact she could ever tell anyone.

And to Catra it is.

Her eyes water more, and Adora tightens her hug on Catra's thin body. Since her time on... _that_ ship, she's been trying to regain lost strength and weight. Catra doesn't know for certain, but she doesn't think that after _he_ chipped her _he_ fed her.

"I love you, Adora."

"I love you too, Catra," she answers without a moment's hesitation.

"I don't know what I would do without you. I-I don't think I'd be alive still if it wasn't for you," Catra's voice wavers and fails her. She hugs Adora's arms a little tighter.

"I _know_ I wouldn't if it weren't for you," Adora says with such certainty that Catra shivers.

"Back at the Heart," she continues, voice quivering, "I- Horde Prime was in my mind. He told me that I wouldn't make it. Then I was trapped, and you... you said you loved me."

Catra can feel Adora's body start to shake.

"I know for a fact that if you didn't tell me that, I wouldn't have made it. I know that if we hadn't kissed my body wouldn't have been able to survive. I-"

"If you hadn't revived me on Mara's ship I'd be dead. I think I _was_ dead, Adora," Catra cuts her off, now openly sobbing.

"All I remember is waking up in your lap and you looking at me as if I was the only thing that mattered in the universe."

And then Catra feels Adora's fingers on her neck, oh-so delicately brushing away a small bit of hair on her neck. And then Catra feels Adora's lips, soft as silk, against where the chip had been.

The second that Adora pulls away Catra sits up.

She places a hand against Adora's cheek and the other in her hair.

Adora is silver in the moonlight, and if Catra hadn't had nothing but nightmares for most of her life she'd think she's dreaming.

She lets a hand trail down to Adora's chest, where the heart is still etched lightly in silver scar tissue.

Catra can see Adora's unmistakable blush, and she silently presses her lips to Adora's, because her words are failing her.

And Adora slowly leans in, lips against lips. Catra feels like her heart will burst, because she's so irreparably in love with Adora. 

When they hesitantly pull away, Catra can see Adora's eyes are soft with sleep and affection.

Adora gently pulls Catra into a hug, and Catra returns it greatfully.

"We already survived a war," Adora says, burying her face into Catra's shoulder, "We have each other to survive the aftermath."

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! Find me on tumblr @catheriaa


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